2010-11 Season
The 2010–11 Chicago Blackhawks season is the club's 85th season in the NHL. The team was nicknamed the "Hangover 'Hawks" for having to recover from winning the franchise's first Stanley Cup in 49 years while adapting to the loss of several players from that team due to salary cap restrictions. The Blackhawks lost to the Vancouver Canucks in seven games in the first round of the 2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Off Season Under pressure to fit the team's player salaries under the salary cap for the 2010–11 season, the team began making trades shortly after winning the Stanley Cup. On June 24, 2010, the club traded Dustin Byfuglien, Ben Eager, Brent Sopel and Akim Aliu to the Atlanta Thrashers in exchange for Marty Reasoner, Joey Crabb, Jeremy Morin, a first-round pick (#24 overall) in 2010 and a second-round pick (#54 overall) in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft. Later that same day, restricted free agent Colin Fraser was traded to the Edmonton Oilers for a sixth-round pick in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft. On June 30, 2010, the Toronto Maple Leafs traded for right winger Kris Versteeg from Chicago in a five-player trade. The Maple Leafs gave up forwards Viktor Stalberg, Chris DiDomenico and Philippe Paradis & also acquired the rights to 21-year-old left winger Bill Sweatt who was a second-round pick in 2007. On July 1, 2010, the Blackhawks traded Andrew Ladd to the Atlanta Thrashers for Ivan Vishnevskiy and a second-round draft pick in 2011. On July 9, 2010, Niklas Hjalmarsson was signed to an offer sheet by the San Jose Sharks, but the Blackhawks matched the offer on July 12, 2010, thereby retaining his services and forgoing compensation from the Sharks for signing a restricted free agent. This signing again put Chicago against the salary cap wall and as a result, it forced them to forego resigning goaltender Antti Niemi, who had filed for arbitration. Regular Season Goaltender Marty Turco made his Blackhawks debut on October 7, 2010 in a 4–3 overtime loss against the Colorado Avalanche. His first Blackhawks win came on October 15, a 5–2 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets. Defenseman Nick Leddy made his NHL debut on October 7, 2010 and scored his first NHL goal on October 11, 2010. On October 23, 2010, Evan Brophey made his NHL debut. Patrick Sharp had a record of 13 shots on goal, the highest shot total in a single game in Blackhawks history. Marian Hossa was named the NHL's Second Star of the Week for the week ending on October 18, 2010 & Duncan Keith was named Third Star of the Week for the week ending on November 1, 2010. Team Leaders *Goals: Patrick Sharp (34) *Assists: Patrick Kane (46) *Points: Jonathan Toews (76) *Penalties in minutes (PIM): John Scott (72) *Plus/minus: (+) Brian Campbell (+28) and (–) Tomas Kopecky (–13) *Wins: Corey Crawford (33) *Goals against average: Corey Crawford (2.30) Awards Milestones Transactions Trades Acquired Free Agents Lost Free Agents Players Claimed Via Waivers Players Lost Via Waivers Player Signings Draft Picks In the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, the Blackhawks were active in trading, moving up from 30th in the draft to 24th to select Kevin Hayes. Through other trades, the Blackhawks picked up three selections in the second round and had ten selections overall in the draft. SaveSave Category:Seasons